SOMETIMES all we need to succeed in life is a dogged spirit to realize our fondest dream.
Thirty-six-year-old Charllote Capayan Gray is a small town girl who hails from Zamboanga City and is creating quite a frosting on her pastry career. She migrated and settled in San Diego California after marrying her boyfriend, Joshua Gray, culminating an Internet romance. They have a pretty three-year-old daughter, Chloe. Her BS Psychology degree she obtained from Mindanao State University, she discovered would not qualify her for a pastry job, which she claims she has a passion for. She started as a bus girl in The Lodge at Torrey Pines in a La Jolla, San Diego’s top hotel and resort to get access to the kitchen. Her tenacity to work with the Executive Chef Jeff Jackson through sheer hard work saw fruition and exposed her to the intricacies of preparing pastries and desserts. To strengthen her pursuit for what she does, she enrolled in Culinary Arts–Pastry at the Grossmont College where she and my sister Enchay Lopez were classmates. She moved on successfully as pastry chef at George’s at the Cove also in La Jolla.
A day before she started her job officially as Executive Pastry Chef of Pamplemousse Grille, one of San Diego’s best restaurants at Solana beach, Charllote came to visit upon the invitation of Enchay to show us how to bake French Macarons, those delightful sweet meringue-based confectionery made of egg whites, icing sugar, almond flour and food coloring. The macaron is usually filled with buttercream or ganache sandwiched between two cookies or shells. French macarons are one of my favorite pastries and back home, chef/dean Jeremy Young of the International Culinary Arts Academy of Cebu bakes the best ones in Cebu City.
This delicately crisp on the outside, soft and chewy inside scrumptious pastry requires precision and perfect timing in its preparation. Charllote assisted by Enchay, started by informing us that macarons are very temperamental and the weather is a big factor—hot and dry (never humid). The sensitive procedure itself requires expertise through experience to be able to determine the right consistency of the almond flour/unbeaten egg white/confection sugar batter as well as beating egg whites with sugar syrup with the right temperature until glossy. Folding to achieve the appropriate texture incorporates the almond batter and beaten egg whites. The batter is piped on a pan lined with parchment paper with marked guide at the back using a pastry bag. To achieve the delicate crust, piped macarons are allowed to dry uncovered and the length of time from 15 minutes or more will depend on the weather. Baking them is also meticulous, opening the oven after a few minutes to release extra humidity and rotating pans for even baking. The whole process is quite tricky with so many factors to consider.
We feasted on the baked macaron shells even before they were filled. Each bite was an absolute delight. And while waiting for the filled macarons to set, Charllote shared her still unofficial private blog site she is creating with photos of her beautiful pastry creations.